The first of two volumes, To Hell and Back is a monumental new history of modern Europe and one of Ian Kershaw's greatest achievements. In the summer of 1914 most of Europe plunged into a war so catastrophic that it took generations to recover from. The disaster terrified its survivors, shocked that a civilization they had blandly assumed to be a model for the rest of the world had collapsed into savagery. In 1939 Europeans would initiate a second conflict that managed to be even worse - a war in which the killing of civilians was central, and in whose aftermath the violence continued, shaping the divided continent that emerged. Ian Kershaw tells this story with humanity, flair and originality. He gives a compelling narrative of events, but he also wrestles with the most difficult issues that the events raise- what it meant for the Europeans who initiated and lived through such fearful times - and what this means for us.

Author Biography

Ian Kershaw is Professor of Modern history at the University of Sheffield. For services to history he was given the German award of the Federal Cross of Merit in 1994. he was knighted in 2002 and awarded the Norton Medlicott Medal by the Historical Association in 2004. He was historical advisor to three BBC series- The Nazis- A Warning From History, War of the Century and Auschwitz. His most recent books are Hitler 1889-1936- Hubris and 1936-1945- Nemesis, which received the Wolfson Literary Award for History and the Bruno Kreisky Prize in Austria for the Political Book of the Year, and was joint winner of the inaugural British Academy Book Prize; Making Friends with hitler- Lord Londonberry and Britain's Road to War, which won the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography in 2005; and, most recently, Fateful Choices- Ten Decisions that Changed the World, 1940-1941.